Gangtok:Two days 7th Sectoral Summit to review IT&IT enabled services and telecommunication began on 31st July at Kohima, Nagaland with an observance of one minute silence in the memory of the first Chief Minister of Sikkim, Kazi Lhendup Dorji Khangsarpa who passed away on Sunday the 28th July, 2007 at Kalimpong at the age of 103.The meet was inaugurated by Mr.Mani Shankar Aiyar, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, DONER and Panchayati Raj and was also attended by Nagaland Governor, Mr.K. Sankaranarayanan, Chief Minister, Mr.Neiphiu Rio, IT Minister for North Eastern States, officials from Government of India and other agencies especially from IT and Telecommunication sector.A four member delegation from Sikkim headed by Principal Secretary cum Development Commissioner, Mr.Alok Rawat attended the meeting. The other members were Secretary, IT, Director, IT and Joint Secretary, P &D Department.Mr.Aiyar informed that serious efforts have been on to break the “prison wall” of NE and to establish proper link with rest of the country and the main channel would be through IT and allied sector. “Security and infrastructure should not bog you. IT and telecommunication has very important role to play, he added.The Governor of Nagaland, Mr.K.Sankanaryanan highlighted the plight of the region and said that North East region is undergoing a typical problem and “one-size fits all approach” will not do in this region.The Chief Minister of Nagaland, Mr.Rio also addressed the Summit and said that all the earlier summits were a grand success in terms of participation, however his only concern is that these various summits have not been able to result in corresponding increase in the flow of funds and faster implementation of many pending projects, vital for the development of the North Eastern Region.Mr.Alok Rawat, Principal Secretary cum Development Commissioner of Sikkim in his address emphasized for a separate telecom circle as at present it is under West Bengal which leads to delay in implementation of various projects like SWAN, providing of stable broadband connectivity. He also laid for subsidy of leased lines to BPO and Call Centres specially at night when the lines are unused and most favourable for Western countries and USAand to encourage Call Centres and BPO in the North Eastern Region specially Sikkim. He also emphasized that serious advertisement campaign is needed for highlighting the Nascom Assessment of Competence (NAC) test so that the educated youth could take advantage of this facility. Further, he requested Government of India, Department of Information and Technology to approve and sanction the Project Report, submitted under the National E-governance Programme for expeditious implementation in the state.He assured full cooperation to all the investors, institutions to extend full cooperation from the Government of Sikkim and hoped that with the Summit, there will be a complete transformation in the IT&IT enabled and telecommunication sector in the entire North East region including Sikkim.The Chief Minister of Sikkim could not attend the meet due to exigencies in the home state and his speech was circulated and taken as read.
